"Aaaaarrrgghhh!" My eyes! They burn! Some idiot just switched my bedroom light on.
"It's Sunday! Lemme sleep in!" I moan, turning over to lay on my tummy.
"I'm just putting your bloody socks away. Jeeze," says my stupid mum.
"Just shut up and go! I'm trying to sleep!" I reply angrily as she gives up, closing my drawer and piffing the socks onto my bed. I hear her stomp away from my bedroom for a few seconds, then walk back to the doorway.
"And don't you forget you're going to Beth's today, either! I got a call from her aunt-"
"I know! Leave me alone!" She gives me a glare of contempt, then storms off.
"Hey! You left the light on and the door open!"
I am ignored, so I try again, this time louder. "MUM! You left the door-"
"AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!" SLAM! Mum suddenly cries out and pulls the door shut. But why did she yell...?
Anyway, doesn't matter. I have my rightful peace, at last.
I try to doze back off, but it doesn't work. Great. Now I have to get up.
I kick the doona off my body and lazily outstretch my arms, sitting upright. I remove my black ankle socks (which has been already half done for me) and stand next to the bed. Then, I proceed to stride over to the bathroom, a few metres to the right of my bedroom.
The mirror shows something resembling a human...oh, wait. That's me. I see a boy with short, scraggly dark hair and green eyes looking back at me. He's got a plain black oversized shirt, red hoodie and black jeans on.
He's sad. And angry. But he doesn't know why. And probably never will.
He looks pretty funny.
I pull out the hairbrush from a cabinet just below my hip line and begin to brush. Nothing really happens to my hair, so I give up and decide to leave it like that for the rest of the day.
As I place the brush back down in the cabinet, I notice a small yellow cylinder container at the base of the mirror. It has a white label with large black block letters. I peer in for a closer look and pick it up gently with my trembling fingers. I can't see it without my glasses, so I go to my bedroom and return to the bathroom as quietly as possible. I feel a wave of dread as I begin to read the label.
"TAKE 1 CAPSULE TWICE DAILY FOR-"
I jump as Mum barges in. "Hey! What are you doing, Jamie?!" She seems worried.
I fumble with the container and manage to place it down. I turn to face her.
"Er...noth- nothing."
She hesitates, then gestures for me to hand it to her.
I pause, and pick the container up. "What is this?"
"Just pass it here, honey," she says sweetly, somehow weakly assuring something that I already know.
I decide it's not a great time to argue and hand it over. She grasps it tightly in her aged grey hands and dashes off out into the kitchen. From the bathroom, I hear her washing her hands.
Suddenly, I hear a scream. I rush out into the kitchen to see what's going on.
Mum glances up at me with her torn expression. "What are you doing here?!"
"I thought I heard-"
"Leave me! Go away from here!" she adds. She starts to sob.
"What do you want, Mum?"
"Just...just go." She starts to cry so much that she falls to the ground. I should help her.
"Do you...er- need anything...?" I question.
I don't receive an answer. I wait for about two minutes, repeating my question over and over. She just sits on the floor, crying.
Mum is still sobbing when I open the front door to leave for Bethania's. I walk to the bus stop a few blocks down and wait for the next bus to arrive.
It's starting to get really cold when a bus finally stops a metre in front of me on the kerb. As the door swings open, I pull the card out from my pocket. I step up into the bus and press it gently against the reader. After hearing that same 'boop' a yesterday, I shuffle to the end of the bus. But this time the driver starts to protest.
"Excuse me, young man. Your card has ex-"
"Leave me alone." I say.
"Oh well, then. I suppose you can't have a lift, then." He starts laughing as if it's the funniest thing anyone has ever said.
"What? Why?!"
"You mean 'why not', right?" a girl pipes up from the middle of the bus. A few titters break out.
"Shut up, will you?" I say, silencing them.
"I'll pay for him!" yells the same female voice.
